


Watch the Wattersons

by oohlips123



Category: The Amazing World of Gumball
Genre: Character Analysis, The Citizens of Elmore, i think...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:07:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28727091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oohlips123/pseuds/oohlips123
Summary: It takes Larry quitting his job(s) for the citizens to realize just how fragile Elmore is.That made people take a closer look at their little town. That was what made people start to think. To question.Who else do they need to watch out for? Which citizens do they need to keep an eye on? To make sure their little town stays afloat.They had their answer. It was in front of them this entire time.The Wattersons.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	Watch the Wattersons

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has been chilling in some corner of my computer for a while now, so I decided to let it see the light of day. It's basically a collection of thoughts, pseudo-headcanons, and some other bits that I've been collecting every time I watch the Amazing World of Gumball. It's highly unlikely that this will become more than a one-shot, but you never know with me. Enjoy!

It takes Larry quitting his job(s) for the citizens to realize just how fragile Elmore is.

One rock quits his job(s), and the entire economy of Elmore crumbles. 

When said rock returned to his regular place behind the counter ( _ every _ counter), suddenly, everything went back to normal.

That made people take a closer look at their little town. That was what made people start to think. To question.

Who else do they need to watch out for? Which citizens do they need to keep an eye on? To make sure their little town stays afloat.

The fear of the unknown weighed down on their minds... For six whole days.

They had their answer. It was in front of them this entire time.

The Wattersons.

No one really knows who first came to the realization, but when they did, it soon became common knowledge. The new motto of their little town that all the extras knew by heart.

"Watch the Wattersons."

That little family of five seemed drawn to the linchpins of Elmore, the two young boys especially so. Everyone they interacted with regularly would need to be handled with care.

From the banana boy to the teacher to the family members themselves. The smallest change from any of these people could spell huge consequences for the town of Elmore.

So the citizens went about their lives, an eye always open as the mother ran her errands, as the boys ran amok.

The Wattersons were Elmore's canaries in a coal mine. They would react to the dangers before anyone else was aware.

* * *

It was in their watching that the people of Elmore became intimately acquainted with the ins and outs of the Watterson household.

Sanity was just a word. No matter how the mother or daughter wanted to argue otherwise, everyone in the Watterson household was subscribed to their own kind of crazy.

The father was the definition of the sin of sloth. It took a lot of watching for the extras to figure out where Richard fits in the structure of the household. In regards to the wife, he is her ultimate challenge. Someone of her level in both skill and knowledge must be constantly pushed, and Richard’s needs far outweighed those of the three children. Of those of the entirety of Elmore itself. The husband fills this role flawlessly just by existing.

The father provides the children with the other end of an extreme that they all must place themselves into. The overworked, goal-driven, borderline psychotic perfectionism of their mother is balanced out by the lazy, underachieving, overly-coddled blob-ness of their father. The children know that to go beyond these two extremes is to invite ruin unto themselves. Richard, being who he is, does this duty without trying. Which is kinda the point.

The daughter, the smart little rabbit that she is, was the translator. Anytime her family reached levels of absurdity that the townsfolk couldn’t  _ begin _ to comprehend, Anais was there. The line drawn in the sand between the citizens of Elmore and the family they watched meant nothing to her. To meet the expectations of her mother, who wanted Anais to achieve where she had failed, this too aware young girl was the closest thing to a functioning member of society that a town like Elmore could create. 

But to function in the household she lived, the daughter had to learn to shed her mask when appropriate, and become what she needed to be. (And which one was the mask? The face she wore for her family, or for the citizens? Isn’t it a frightening thing that even the girl in question does not know?) So well versed in languages of both the sane and insane, the daughter would translate when the townsfolk were confused. And she would join in on the insanity when her duty was done.

Darwin stood out (hah! Leg joke.) in more ways than just his appearance. (In a world of sentient food, and unknown unknowns, you’d think the citizens of Elmore wouldn’t be so baffled by the appearance of a walking fish). He stood out by the mere fact of his constant presence in the shadow of the chaotic blue cat that he calls his friend and brother. In watching this sentient shadow colored in orange, the citizens of Elmore realized his purpose in the structure of the Watterson household. 

The townsfolk still remember the day the Watterson parents came home from the hospital with their first child. 

The havoc Gumball wrought those first years still haunt the minds of the adults who survived to tell the tale. 

The little fish was to the young son as a lightning rod was to a storm. He took Gumball’s chaotic energy and transferred it safely (or as safely as it can get) into the Earth where it wouldn’t do as much harm. And like a lightning rod, Darwin kept some the lightning Gumball gave for a short time after the energy was disseminated. He was the only one who could corral that chaos into something the minds of the citizens could comprehend. Something they could at least  _ attempt _ to avoid.

The Watterson household was on just as much of a tightrope as Elmore itself.

Its citizens continued their vigilance. They would continue to watch.

* * *

The citizens of Elmore didn’t like Gumball. 

He was rude, rash, reckless, uncaring of how his actions affect others. 

The boy seemed to relish in this fact. He knew how horrid he was and how he made people feel, but never seemed to care about others until he was confronted with the consequences. 

Sometimes, the citizens didn’t know how those closest to him could stand to be in his presence.

His disrespect towards any authority figure, his callousness to anyone that wasn’t his girlfriend, and his condescending manner of address when interacting with the other children made the towns people wonder why they even bothered with putting up with him.

This question was answered when Alan the balloon, Elmore’s resident good Samaritan, gave up. 

Alan was a kind and optimistic boy. He made it his life goal to help, care, and bring color to everyone he met. You needed your flowers watered? He was there with a watering can. You needed your pets fed? He bought the food himself. You needed someone to change your child’s diaper while fleeing rabid wolves in an abandoned mineshaft? Someone get the baby wipes!

Gumball hated him. Everyone, Alan included, knew this to be a fact. 

This just added to the confusion with how the whole situation was resolved.

Just like when Larry quit, Alan took the stability of the town when he just  _ stopped _ . When he no longer did what he’d always done.

Holes in the ozone layer that let the sun's deadly rays rain down, ducks in the park went wild, zoo animals rampaged, and little scouts held many people captive in their claimed territory.

When the world seemed to be crumbling around them, the citizens of Elmore had no clue how to fix it.

And they were shocked when they found out who did.

The fact that Darwin was there surprised no one. He followed Gumball around like a lost puppy most days and he had a heart almost as big as Alan himself. The fact that the little fish was there to fix their little town wasn’t surprising.

The fact that Gumball was the one to instigate and implement the solution, was.

He ascertained the issue, verbally abused the poor balloon, and nearly strangled him in a poor attempt at a hug, but Gumball was able to break through the depression Alan had fallen into and brought color back to Elmore.

This was when the citizens realized just how wrongly they’d judged the youngest cat of the household.

He was crass, rude, cynical, and abrasive. Sarcasm was his language, and venom were his words. This was all true.

Did he bother to filter his words? No. Was he ever anything less than blunt, no matter the circumstance? Never.

But he wasn’t uncaring. 

He cared, in his own way, about everyone he talked to. Because he was selfish.

He was a selfish little boy who weaponized every asset he had. Every asset  _ others _ had. He weaponized  _ other people _ when it suited him. But it was because of that selfishness that he was able to do the things he did. 

Because, in his mind, Elmore was  _ his _ .

Elmore was  _ his _ town.  _ He _ was the only one allowed to bring chaos.  _ He  _ was the only one allowed to bring his peers to tears with nothing but his words and a toothpick. It was  _ his _ family that thrived in the wacky ways of the town and its people.

And because he had claimed Elmore and its citizens as  _ his _ , he brought it upon himself to fix what was broken. 

He hated Alan, for reasons the citizens would never understand, but Alan was  _ his _ to break. Alan wasn’t allowed to give up before  _ Gumball _ let him.

Despite how twisted that may be, the extras wouldn’t have him any other way.

Because they had a feeling that Gumball being anything other than himself would bring more pain than peace.

* * *

The citizens continued to watch. 

They watched when things made sense. They watched when things didn’t.

They watched when continuity errors occurred, and when the plot had actual plot.

They watched, because that’s all they could do.

They watched and realized, after some time had passed, that they’d begun to enjoy it.

They watched the Wattersons.

And life continued.


End file.
